American Horror Story Just Revealed How Sarah Paulson Connects Season 1 to Season 5 in a Big Way

Martin Freeman over on Fargo isn’t the only Season 1 character to make a triumphant return to an FX show. Sarah Paulson will reprise her Season 1 American Horror Story role during this season’s finale. That’s right, Paulson will be playing two characters this year. But, it’s not exactly her first time doing so.

With the departure of Jessica Lange, Paulson has become American Horror Story’s most regular leading lady, but back in Season 1 her part was relatively tiny. She played Billie Dean Howard, alleged psychic and close friend to Lange’s Constance Langdon, and according to Entertainment Weekly, Billie Dean is coming back. The finale will see Howard scoping out the Hotel Cortez as a subject for her very own reality series featuring her psychic abilities.

This isn’t the first time American Horror Story: Hotel has circled back on the show’s original series. Season 1’s Murder House realtor Marcy (Christine Estabrook) and Murder House resident Dr. Montgomery (Matt Ross) already popped up both in flashback and present day this year. Paulson doesn’t even get the honor of being the first actor to play dual roles this season. That goes to Finn Wittrock for his portrayal of doomed model Tristan and, oh yes, screen legend Rudolph Valentino.

Reprising characters is something that creator Ryan Murphy has played with a little bit in seasons past, but as the show goes on, the threads between the seasons seem to grow even more tangled. If Murphy delivers on his hints that we might soon get two seasons of American Horror Story per year, we may wind up with a very tangled web indeed.